Acousto-optical modulation of airy light beams in crystals

Abstract

The non-collinear diffraction of Airy light beams on ultrasound in the regime of weak and strong acousto-optical (AO) interaction is investigated. Expressions are obtained for the complex amplitudes of diffracted waves in the general case of an anisotropic medium. It is shown that with an increase in the dimensionless parameter of the Airy beam, the efficiency of Bragg diffraction decreases. At the same time, however, the shape of the modulation curve remains unchanged. It is established that the greatest efficiency of anisotropic Bragg diffraction is achieved for a case when the diffracted Airy beam propagates along the front of the ultrasonic wave. It is shown that the efficiency of AO diffraction of Airy beam on an amplitude-modulated wave is determined by the diffraction efficiencies of constant components in a diffracted beam.